


The Cereal Aisle

by orphan_account



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Domestic Bliss, Grocery Shopping, Neil is v flirty bcs he's allowed to be let him be happy, and smoothies, blink and you'll miss kandreil, he's also an idiot tho, just 2k words of two boys realising they're in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-14
Updated: 2018-11-14
Packaged: 2019-08-21 04:23:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16569590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Kevin groaned and squeezed his eyes shut. “Wassa time, babe?”Neil hesitated. “… 10am?”When they both turned to look at the digital alarm clock perched on the bedside table, the bright red numbers flashed that it was seven am. Neil didn’t even try not to smile.“You’re a fucking liar, Josten.”





	The Cereal Aisle

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mr-im-fine (witch_lit)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/witch_lit/gifts).



Neil closed the fridge. He counted to four in his head, forgot the word for five in English, and started again in French. The colourful, magnetic letters dotted across the door looked gaudy and out of place in his bare kitchen. Matt had bought them for him four months ago, the day Neil moved into his new apartment, and the letters hadn’t been touched since. Well except by Nicky, who had come over while he was passing through the city and left the phrase ‘exy is sexy’ haphazardly pinned up. When Neil got to ten, he grabbed the fridge handle and pulled it back open. The carton of milk was still empty. Actually other than half a packet of spinach and two cans of Redbull, the entire fridge was empty. Neil sighed.

“Shit.”

It was an early Sunday morning in February and all the lights were turned off but the pink and orange sunrise leaked through the glass balcony doors. Neil moved through the room feeling like he had been dipped in strawberry syrup. Music was still humming out of the headphones hanging around his neck but the sound was drowned by the loud, rhythmic snoring echoing out of the open bedroom door. Two days ago, the infamous Kevin Day and his team the Houston Galaxies made their way to Manhattan to play against Neil’s team, the New York Bats. The game went to penalties so of course Kevin’s team won, but Neil still received a generous reward for making what Kevin called ‘a fucking glorious assisted shot’ only two minutes into play. It was almost worth the loss.

He reached in to grab one of the cans of Redbull, cracking open the metal tab. The smell of liquid sugar made him wince but he risked a small sip before coming to his senses and tipping the whole thing down the drain.

Neil’s plan this morning was to go for a quick run around central park then come home to make protein smoothies and snuggle under a blanket while catching up on last night’s Trojan’s game. At some point, Kevin would join him and they would Skype with Wymack (or at least call, upon Abby’s insistence) and maybe go to the New York public library because Kevin wouldn’t shut up about it. But none of that was going to happen because Neil can’t make smoothies without ingredients and Kevin would whine without a nutritious breakfast which meant they needed to go grocery shopping.

The linoleum was cold under his bare feet as he tiptoed through the living room, running shoes neatly piled by the front door and sweaty socks thrown in the general direction of the laundry basket outside the bathroom. ‘Kev?’ He called softly as he reached the bedroom door. The snoring didn’t stop, but Kevin rolled over in his sleep so that he was lying face down in Neil’s pillow.

Neil rolled his eyes, watching the lanky bean pole stretch over the entire surface of his queen sized bed. One of Kevin’s legs was sticking out of the duvet and over the side in mid-air, boxers riding far too high up his ass and faint red scratch marks were cross-stitched across his broad shoulders. Neil examined his nails and made a note to trim them later.

“Kevin, wake up.” He said firmer this time, taking a few steps closer so he could crouch by the headstand and nudge Kevin’s shoulder. “I want smoothies for breakfast.”

A pair of tired green eyes squinted up, just peeking out over the top of the pillow. Kevin’s forehead scrunched up, thick black eyebrows coming together to form one giant fuzzy caterpillar on his face. He had sleep dust in the corner of his eyes and his lips were beginning to chap from sleeping with his mouth open yet all Neil could think was _fuck, this boy is so beautiful._

“Neil?” Came the confused response, voice croaky and rough with sleep. “Wassa time, babe?”

Neil hesitated. “… 10am?”

When they both turned to look at the digital alarm clock perched on the bedside table, the bright red numbers flashed that it was seven am. Neil didn’t even try not to smile.

Kevin groaned and squeezed his eyes shut. “You’re a fucking liar, Josten.” He kicked off the blanket, reaching out blindly for Neil’s hand but only grasping handfuls of warm air as Neil took a quick step back. “Get back into bed you absolute psycho.”

“I don’t want to.” Neil pouted, letting his voice go all whiney the way he knew Kevin secretly liked. “I’m hungry.” 

“Just make a smoothie here, babe.”

“I can’t. We’re out of milk.”

“Eat a banana.”

“We’re out of bananas.”

“Toast.”

“We’re out of bre-"

“Then drink some fucking water! It’s 7am Neil, get back into the goddamn bed.”

Neil grinned and stood up from his crouch, tilting his head as his eyes roamed over the outline of Kevin’s body. “Well, if you insist.” He replied happily before rolling over Kevin’s relaxed form. The body below him grunted and grumbled something about a fucking asshole but Neil just snuggled up to the warmth, pulling up the blanket and kissing the sweet spot between Kevin’s ear and the buzzed hair down his neck.

“Ugh. How are you so heavy, you do nothing but run.” Kevin drawled out. 

“Stop bitching and get dressed, we’re going shopping.”

***

The grocery store was mostly empty when they arrived, Neil still in his running gear but drowning in one of Kevin’s official team hoodies that fell to the middle of his thighs, the hood pulled low over his face to avoid any enthusiastic fans or invasive questions about the detailed skin on his cheeks. Kevin was wearing sunglasses inside, Gucci and endorsed of course, but he’d thrown on a loose vest and a pair of Adidas joggers to match. Neil’s eyes were slowly wandering past the cereal aisle and towards the toned, tanned muscle of Kevin’s arms and shoulders every time he reached up to look at something. It was odd to think that up until the age of 19 he had never really looked at someone and felt the need to be near them, touching them every chance he could get. He especially never anticipated that person to be Kevin Day, the bratty kid from little league with ears too big for his head. Thank god he’d grown into them.

“What are you smiling about?” Kevin asked as he slung an arm over Neil’s shoulders.

“Nothing.” Neil mumbled, still a little caught up in the imagery of a 3ft tall Kevin yelling at him for passing to a different player. But speaking of small, angry athletes. “Hey Kev, did you ever get over the crush you had on Andrew in college?”

Kevin, who had been holding up a pack of macadamia nuts to read their natural sugar content, promptly dropped them. “I- Uh- What? Andrew-” Kevin cleared his throat and bent down to scoop up the nuts before crossing and uncrossing his arms. To his own credit, he managed to keep a straight face but the furious blush heating up his chest and cheekbones spoke for itself. “I didn’t. I didn’t have a crush on Minyard.”

Neil smirked and continued browsing, coasting on the shopping cart as he rested his weight on the handle bar and let his feet glide across the floor. “Sure, Jan.”

A low groan came from behind him as the packet of nuts flew over his shoulder and landed perfectly on top of the bundle of oranges in the cart. “You’ve got to stop hanging out with Allison, she’s ruining your vocabulary.”

Neil gave him a deadpan look before conveniently stretching up his arms as if to work out a knot in his shoulders. “If I stopped hanging out with Allison,” He murmured, the hem of the sweatshirt rising up to his bellybutton so the form fitting leggings were completely on show. “Then I’d have no one to cut my hair or buy me nice pants.”

Kevin blinked. “I suppose she’ll do.”

“Mhm. Although according to Vanity Fair, Allison and I have been dating since my second year as a Fox. It’s all very hush-hush though.”

“Christ, since when do you read Vanity Fair?”

“I don’t, Nicky sent me the article. He called you my mistress.”

“As if I’d be the second woman.”

“Weird flex but okay.”

Kevin put his hand on the side of the cart to stop it from moving. “Neil.”

Neil let go of the cart and shoved his hands into his pockets, rocking back on the heels of his feet to stare Kevin down. “Yes, Kevin?”

The silence stretched longer than most people would find comfortable but direct eye contact had become their weird version of foreplay about four fights into their somewhat-relationship-thing that Kevin refused to name. Not that they ever fought about series things. It was usually a debate over watching a game or going out, putting kale in the curry or not. Whether Kevin would take Neil to the Winter banquet as his date or panic at the last second and ask Thea again. The little things. Neil wasn't bothered that Kevin was still friends with his ex-girlfriend, the three of them got along well enough when she was in town and their practise sessions at the local Exy court left Neil buzzing with excitement and adrenaline. But having to censor himself so often when fans and the press were constantly asking about his love life was getting tiring. Neil didn't _care_ what they thought of him being with Kevin. They weren't even really together, they weren't boyfriends, neither of them had ever bought up the subject of labels. It was fine.

Another few seconds passed in competitive silence before Kevin rolled his eyes so hard Neil was surprised he didn’t lose his balance. He felt the corners of his lips turn up in a genuine smile as Kevin leaned down until their noses brushed. A tug on the pocket on his hoodie pulled them closer together and Neil pushed up onto his tiptoes, fingers gripping at Kevin's vest to keep his balance. They’d stopped in the centre of the aisle but there was no one else there, just the two of them under artificial lights. The outline of Kevin's face was starting to go blurry from how close they were standing but his eyes were in sharp focus, soft but intense and Neil wished he knew what the boy was thinking. He parted his lips, becoming impatient as he tilted forward to kiss him, when Kevin spoke softly.

"I hate hearing about rumours of you and other people. Especially when I'm all the way over in Houston and can't see you."

Neil stilled. This was new territory for them. He looked over Kevin's face, trying to figure out where he was going with this but Neil had never been very good at reading people with good intentions. "There's not a lot I can do about that Kevin." He replied with a whisper.

“My contract with Galaxy finishes in six months.” Kevin started, swallowing heavily and suddenly looking very nervous. He pried his hand off of Neil's hoodie where it had tightened around the thick material and instead let his fingers graze gently up Neil's arm until their hands met and he held on like it was the only thing keeping him up.“I'm going to tell the team and the manager and the PR guys and if they want to keep me... Well if they don't I’ll get a new team. Maybe closer to New York?”

Neil started to frown. “Tell them what?" He asked, not deliberately trying to be difficult, but feeling dense that he couldn't put together why Kevin was saying this. "Why would you move?” 

Kevin took a deep breath and Neil dropped down from his tiptoes, feeling the need to ground himself before having what was apparently a very big conversation in the cereal aisle. “I want to tell them that I’ve been kinda of dating the second best striker in NCAA Exy-” Neil huffed out a laugh, not sure if it was being called second best or finding out that Kevin thought they were dating that amused him. “-and that I don’t want to sneak around with him anymore because it’s making us both a little stir crazy. Because last week-" 

His voice cracked on the last syllable and Neil realised Kevin was really, truly serious. He knew Abby had convinced him to try counselling now that he was living alone with his new team, without Andrew or Neil to take care of him all the time and Neil had noticed the difference in his drinking habits over the past few months. While he hadn't said anything directly, he tried to show his support by clearing out his own alcohol stash when Kevin came to stay and cutting down on cigarettes to curb his own unhealthy addiction. What Neil hadn't noticed was Kevin slowly figuring out how to talk to people about things that weren't Exy, like his favourite book or why he likes Van Gogh. He hadn't really noticed Kevin growing more comfortable with throwing an arm around his shoulders when they walked beside each other in public or how he was starting more and more sentances with _I feel_ and not _I want_. Neil schooled his expression and tried to concentrate on Kevin's words but the sound was now being drowned out by the sudden rapid pulse of his heartbeat thumping in his ears. 

Kevin huffed and grit his teeth as he struggled to verbalise what he wanted to say. He bought their linked hands up to his mouth and pressed a firm kiss against Neil's knuckles, closing his eyes for a moment before continuing. "I want to tell them because last week Dad asked me how my boyfriend is doing and I didn't correct him. It didn't even occur to me. And that thought has been stuck in my head for five days because it was making my stomach hurt and I couldn't figure out why and then I got to yours last night and it kinda of clicked but you were only wearing shorts so I got distracted before I could tell you I-" 

“You're rambling, babe." Neil interrupted. The blush Kevin had sported earlier came back with a vengence, the skin of his cheeks going from a mellow brown to a rosy pink. Neil took the moment of silence to sort out his own questions. "What happened to professional athletes not being gay?” 

Kevin, with his mouth still open from where Neil had cut him off too soon, quickly rebooted to say. “I’m not gay, I'm bisexual.”

Neil groaned and dropped his head so his forehead bumped against Kevin's chest. His boyfriend's chest? “Not quite the point I was making. When were you and Dan talking about me? Why are you bringing this up now? Last week you said Ichirou-” 

“Fuck Ichirou.” Kevin stated bluntly then paused as if he was faintly shocked at himself for saying it. Neil was certainly pleasantly surprised and he didn't hide the grin that stretched across his face when Kevin nodded and stuck by it. “I mean it, fuck Ichirou if he thinks this will affect his income, I don't care. I don’t care because what I do outside of the game shouldn’t affect how I play it and anything else is bullshit. My last sponsored ad gave me a seven figue paycheck. Tomorrow I will still have the highest ratio of goals to shots and you will still be the fastest player in America so none of that matters if I want to tell you I-”

"ESPN said I'm the fastest globally ranked actually." 

"... Neil." 

"I'm just saying, if you're gonna say it, say it right." 

"Neil-" 

"Kavinsky is catching up to your rank though-" 

“For fucks sake Neil I’m trying to tell you I love you, would you please shut up.”

Neil looked up so quickly he got whiplash. "What?"

"You heard me." Kevin mumbled. He was looking over to the side at nothing in particular, trying to avoid Neil's eyes but the grip he had on Neil's hand was so tight he was managing to leave half crescent prints with his rough, bitten down fingernails. 

"Kevin. Hey, look at me. Please." Neil asked, pressing sweet kisses along his collarbone between each phrase. He untangled his free hand from Kevin's vest so he could fit his palm against his boyfriend's jaw, slowly stroking his thumb against the taller boy's cheekbone until green eyes stopped glancing anxiously down the aisle and landed firmly on him. He waited until he knew he had all of Kevin's focus to reach up again on his toes and cover his mouth with his own. Some of their kisses were burning and hungry, some harsh and bruising, but at 8am in their local grocery store, Neil felt Kevin sigh into the kiss with such familiarity that he realised how easy it would be to spend the rest of his life with this boy. As they parted, Neil murmured. "You're an idiot. I love you too. Of course I do." 

**Author's Note:**

> This shouldn't have taken me two weeks, sorry Atlas. If the end seems rushed it's because it was.


End file.
